State moves to privatize its home health services

The state plans to privatize its 50-year-old home health program, saying it’s been losing money for the past three years.

The service provides skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, medical social services, home health aides, and care and education for respiratory and other diseases to people who’ve been in the hospitalized or have temporary or chronic health problems.

While the program is totally funded by payments it receives - no state or federal money, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control says it isn’t earning enough to sustain itself.

It lost $39,938 in fiscal 2015, $428,262 last year and $1.7 million in fiscal 2013, DHEC reports.

Revenues from past earnings have supplemented the program, but those reserves are dwindling, according to DHEC.

Because there is at least one licensed home health provider in every county today, unlike when the program began, DHEC decided this week to “pursue the transfer of DHEC’s home health licenses to another qualified provider,” according to a statement.

A Notice of Intent to Transfer Home Health Licenses was scheduled to be posted Friday, and the transfer should be effective by the end of the year.

The arrangement calls for guaranteed employment for at least a year for all current employees, according to DHEC, with possible internal placement of the staff.

DHEC Home Health employs 86 full-time staff and 38 part-time or hourly staff who cared for some 4,762 patients from July 2014 to May 2015, with an average daily caseload of 807 patients, the agency reports.

Services are paid for by Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, private insurers and a sliding fee scale to a small number of patients.

DHEC said it’s proud of the hard work and dedication of the staff and is committed to ensuring continuity of care for clients.